The Arabist

"The dog had mistaken the Palestinian's identity"

The Defense Ministry is blaming an army dog for the death of an innocent Palestinian, who was shot by Israel Defense Forces troops 10 months ago.

According to Deputy Defense Minister Ze'ev Boim (Likud), the dog had mistaken the Palestinian's identity.

Boim wrote this in response to a parliamentary question submitted by MK Azmi Bishara (Balad) about the circumstances of the death of a Jenin University lecturer last year. Bishara presented the question in May 2004 and received the answer at the end of February 2005.

Haaretz learned from security sources that the inquest in the case was based on testimony from the soldiers only, and that no attempt had been made to question the widow of the deceased, who was near him when he was shot.

As a rule, the IDF does not question Palestinians while investigating cases in which civilians are killed by Israeli fire, the sources said.

Boim's answer is based on the IDF's investigation, which was reportedly carried out on April 28, 2004. On that same day, Haaretz published an article contrasting the IDF's version with the widow's testimony. The only dog she saw was with the soldiers, when they emerged from behind a large tree after shooting her husband, she said.

Yasser Abu-Laymoun, a lecturer on hospital management at the American-Arab university in Jenin, was shot and killed on Friday, April 23, 2004, in an open field outside his village Taluza, near Nablus. His wife and sister were nearby.